Wednesday

On Nov. 30, 1835, Samuel Langhorne Clemens — better known as Mark Twain — was born in Florida, Missouri.

On this date:

In 1016, Edmund II, King of the English, died after a reign of seven months.

In 1782, the United States and Britain signed preliminary peace articles in Paris for ending the Revolutionary War; the Treaty of Paris was signed in Sept. 1783.

In 1803, Spain completed the process of ceding Louisiana to France, which had sold it to the United States.

In 1874, British statesman Sir Winston Churchill was born at Blenheim Palace.

In 1900, Irish writer Oscar Wilde died in Paris at age 46.

In 1939, the Winter War began as Soviet troops invaded Finland. (The conflict ended the following March with a Soviet victory.)

In 1954, Ann Elizabeth Hodges of Oak Grove, Alabama, was slightly injured when an 8-1/2-pound chunk of meteor crashed through the roof of her house, hit a radio cabinet, then struck her as she lay napping on a couch.